Should breach of promise to marry be a punishable offense?
Should breach of promise to marry be a punishable offense?
Introduction:
In a recent case Bombay HC stated that every breach of promise to marry is not rape and pre-marital sex between couples is no longer shocking in India's big cities. The verdict came from a case where cheating in a relationship was termed as rape by a girl who filed the complaint. Promise to marry and physical intimacy is a person's private affair and the court made it clear that these cases shall not be compared to rape cases. However, society still views live-in-relationships as vile and offensive leading to such cases where cheated women file complaints of rape against men.
No, breach of promise to marry is not punishable:
1. Live-in-relationships are legal and the youth of present day are sensible enough to respect their body and make sound decisions based on their compatibility level. There are no strings attached in such a relationship and both the partners are free to move out if they feel that there is no future for them together as a couple.
2. It is very natural for couples to fall in and out of love and if one of them feels that it is over for them, there is no forcing them to stay together. While it's all sunshine during the initial phase of a relationship, things do change later. In such cases one of them might get hurt and retort to vengeance in the form of these cases.
3. While one of the partners is more emotionally involved, the other might be taking it casually. Break-ups, broken hearts, bitterness and yearning to get the partner back can make a person file such cases and if it is made a punishable offense, there would be more of false cases filed for the sake of vengeance.
4. "Coerced or misguided, obtained willingly or through deceit- consent is an act of reason, accompanied by deliberation, the mind weighting, as in balance, the good and bad on each side. There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex", said the Supreme Court. It is clear that such cases have no base and if consensual nature of the relationship has been confirmed, it should not be punishable.
5. There is clearly a difference between beach of promise and not fulfilling a false promise. In a consensual sexual relationship, both the girl and the boy are responsible for the consequences of their decision. The court can in no way be involved in such cases of breach of promise and hence it is not punishable.
6. If breach of promise is made a punishable offense, there would be more of false cases than real ones. The law would be misused and legally innocents would be punished in disguise.
7. Marriage involves legal registration and since marriage did not happen, beach of promise could not be taken as a punishable offense. Drawing a line between offense and cheating is necessary and deception is not always punishable even if the person convicted used the girl to satisfy his lust
Yes, breach of promise to marry is punishable:
1. There are numerous cases pending in courts where the accused is set free even after the case is of rape and the culprit used the term consensual sex to cover the crime. Almost 70% of the rape accused, who were genuinely found guilty of the crime, are known to use the term consensual sex to mislead the court.
2. Marital rape is a punishable offense. Why can't the same law apply to those in live-in-relationships? When husbands can be found guilty to this heinous crime, boyfriends or fiancées too can be guilty of the same. Society still has the same attitude towards girls who prefer to stay in live-in-relationships or is open minded about dating. Even policemen refuse to take complaints if she agrees to have been in a relationship with the guy she is accusing of rape.
3. Deception and cheating is a crime when lives of people or monetary loss is involved. Why can it be spared when it comes to traumatising the life of a girl? Misleading the girl to trust him and then using her as an object to be discarded when he is satisfied is offensive not only physically but also emotionally.
Conclusion:
There should be laws to look carefully into these cases and if the accused is found to have misled the person, leaving him/her traumatised later, it should be punishable. Laws are made to prevent people from crime and fraudulence is also a crime. Though courts must be careful while handling these cases and examine properly the truth of the matter, the victim should be given a chance to plead her case.
Discussion
- RE: Should breach of promise to marry be a punishable offense? -Deepa Kaushik (12/30/14)
- Breach of promise to marry has many hidden intricacies that could not be revealed even despite in-depth analysis and introspection into the matter. The promises between the couples are not made universally and there can be no proof for such promise. When such a promise cannot be understood to be a truth or a fake notion, then how can the law be established just on the basis of mere assumptions.
The term promise can have many definitions and it depends from person-to-person whether the promise is made by words in direct context or is that only an assumption by one of the partners. These occurrences gets projected taking a shape of dispute only when the partner feels cheated especially after having the physical relationship. When the term consensual relationship comes to play, it closes the doors for any law or rule to make them abide to stick to any statement.
When we talk of marital rape, we cannot compare the breach to marry with marital rape. The marital rape is considered an offense as it is a non-consensual relationship which hurts one of the partners. But when the relationship is taken a step ahead with the mutual consent of both the partners, then we cannot blame either to have committed an offense.
Though the statement has a deep impression on the heart when we hear for the breach of promise to marry, still we cannot have any stern proof to help the argument bound with stringent rules and regulations.
